Space between: after the fact
by Chargedlion
Summary: What happened before Mal and Evie met Jay, Carlos, and *spoiler* at the limo. Slight angst. Mevie friendship. One shot. (now edited)


"In the space between," Evie and Mal sang together in harmony, finishing off their emotional song. Evie hugged Mal to her side, leaning her head against hers. They stayed that way for a few minutes. Mal finally nuzzled her cheek before stepping away. "Everything you just said...I...I needed to hear that."

A soft smile appeared on Evie's face. "I meant it, 'You'll never be alone, no matter where you go.'"

Mal smiled back. "Yeah yeah, I get it." Then she sighed. "I dont know what to do anymore..."

Evie stepped forward to take her hand. "No one is forcing you to leave M... But no one is forcing you to stay..."

"No matter how many times you say you would have stopped me... I still know you wanted me to stay."

Evie shrugged. "Well of course I want to have my best friend around, but I just want you to be happy."

Mal sighed and sat down on the couch.

Evie sat next to her and rested her head on her shoulder.

Mal hid a the small smile forming in her face. "It's not over yet... But I guess it's kinda nice to relax...if we even can with all that's going on..."

Evie placed a hand on Mal's knee. "I'm sorry about..."

"Don't finish that sentence," Mal barked, cutting her off. She took a deep breath and continued, "Sorry... I've just kept up the act for too long..."

Evie lifted her hand off Mal's knee and interlaced their fingers. "I don't blame you... you've been under a lot of pressure and I should have realized that."

Mal squeezed her hand gently. "It's not your fault, I don't expect you to constantly fix my problems."

Evie said nothing, but squeezed her hand back.

"Hey," Mal started quietly, "I love you. And I appreciate that you want to help,." She turned Evie's face towards her and kissed her forehead softly. She never used to be that way, but since coming to Auradon, Mal had softened more towards Evie. She couldn't help but love her.

Evie hummed in appreciation. "Love you too."

Mal smiled and for a moment she forgot what was going on with Ben and the pirates. She pulled Evie slightly closer, feeling comforted when she felt her arms wrap around her waist. "E?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this is going to work? You know, with the wand and stuff?"

Evie squeezed her middle. "I sure hope so."

Mal looked at Evie, her expression wavering.

Evie noticed that she had said the wrong thing. "Ben will be okay Mal."

Mal looked away, but kept her arm around her friend. "This is all my fault."

"You know, he said the same thing when you left about himself..." She ran a hand down Mal's back soothingly. "It's nobody's fault, we didn't know this would happen."

"If I didn't just leave...none of this would've..." She was cut short by a gentle hand placed on her cheek.

"You didn't know this would happen," Evie repeated quietly.

Mal would've said more, if It wasn't for Evie brushing her thumb across her cheek. Evie always knew how to call her down.

"That a new painting on the wall? It's very well done," Evie complemented, clearly changing the subject.

Mal looked over at what she was spray painting earlier, happy to be talking about something different. "Yes, it is new. Thanks."

Evie nudged her playfully. "You never lost your touch with your spray paint now did ya?"

Mal smiled slightly. "Never. Spray painted is what I do best."

"You've got talent, Mal."

"Okay okay, enough sweet talk... thanks E."

Evie nodded. "No problem." Then she thought for a moment. "Do you think the boys managed to make the wand yet?"

Mal shrugged. "Knowing them, some sort of antic probably happened, or someone say them, or..."

"I think we both know that that list will go one forever if you continue," Evie butt in.

Mal laughed. "That's true. Anyways, I hope they have... so we don't run out of time."

Evie bowed her head. She regretted bringing up the problem at hand again, even though Mal had told her to lay off the sweet talk.

Mal huffed softly, standing up. "Uma... Why did this happen?!"

Evie sighed, not surprised she got right back to saying that again. "M. Hey, calm down, this'll work, I promise."

"You don't know this will work! If something happens to Ben... if I just didn't tell him to leave... Ugh!"

Evie stood up, facing her, standing tall. "Snap out of it. You had no idea about Uma and her crews' intentions, and there's no way you could have known. All we can do right now is have hope."

Mal looked at her straight in the eyes. "Hope doesn't exist on the Isle."

Evie held her gaze. "It does if you choose to hope. Please Mal..."

Mal looked away. "I love you Evie, but you're wrong. I don't know how to hope for something good to actually happen."

Evie forced Mal to look at her. "Auradon was a good thing that happened for us! You chose good, which was a good thing that happened to us! Good things can happen so we can only hope. I chose to believe that this will work, I have hope. And you should too. So please, let's not fight over this and focus on the mission at hand."

Mal couldn't believe the speech she just heard. Evie... was right.

"I'm sorry. You're... You're right."

Evie smiled a little. "Now, come here," she commanded, holding her arms out.

Mal stepped into her embrace, hugging the taller girl tightly.

Evie rested her chin on her shoulder and whispered, "I'm so sorry this happened... but I care about you and I don't want you to blame yourself, okay?"

Mal finally nodded in agreement, burying into her shoulder. "Okay... I won't."

Evie continued to hold her for a bit, then let go. "Alright, now let's go and meet the boys and fix this!"

Mal glanced over at the smoke bombs they made earlier. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

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Please review if you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! *Fist-bump*


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